National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation of Southeast Texas, headquartered in Houston, was founded in 1963 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing ongoing public education, free kidney disease screenings and direct patient support to those in the Gulf Coast region suffering from chronic kidney and urinary diseases.
Dialysis treatments can temporarily sustain kidney patients, but the only hope for long-term survival is a kidney transplant; and the critical shortage of organs that are available for transplantation means a death sentence for most kidney patients. For those who do go on dialysis, the treatments are time-consuming, and painful. Most patients spend 4 to 5 hours a day, three times a week, intravenously attached to an artificial kidney called a dialysis machine. The time spent away from work often results in the loss of their jobs, and as such, many live on nothing more than a meager monthly disability income.
Although Medicare and Medicaid provide funds for persons suffering from kidney disease, these programs do not offer support for many of the other expenses involved in the care and well being of these patients. This is where the National Kidney Foundation of Southeast Texas comes in. The National Kidney Foundation of Southeast Texas provides patient services such as protein supplements, emergency financial assistance for medication and transportation assistance.
The National Kidney Foundation of Southeast Texas is grateful to ABC Home & Commercial Services for selecting us as the Houston-area beneficiary of the Brothers in Arms Ride, May 24 – July 26, 2009. To date, thousands of dollars have been raised by Raleigh Jenkins on his website, www.firstgiving.com/raleighjenkins. These much-needed dollars will go a long way toward "making lives better" for the 260,000 people suffering from kidney and urinary diseases here in the Southeast Texas area. These voluntary contributions are helping bring hope and support to those living with kidney disease and will be used primarily to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation, a cause that is near and dear to Raleigh — 11 years ago he donated a kidney to his father.
Again, the National Kidney Foundation of Southeast Texas is extremely grateful to the Jenkins Family and ABC Home & Commercial Services for their support.
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